Paint with me: Night Starry Sky

Hey guys,

So after a very long time, I got the confidence to do something out of my comfort zone: painting. I'm very used to shading with pencils. Pencils are my bae hahaha. But painting has always been a challenge for me. I never learnt to paint properly because I left art classes before I could start with painting (Thanks O levels) But now that As have ended, I have decided to try and teach myself how to paint. 

So for today, I decided to paint this really pretty picture that I came across on my tumblr dashboard.

I thought this would be a fairly simple picture to try my hands on painting for the first time. But...it turned out to be a little challenging for me. Mostly because this picture required really good blending and shading of all the colours. And the colours ranged from really light like white and yellow to really dark colours like blue and BLACK. But well...I tried. And I think it came out not so bad for someone who tried painting for the first time? Hahaha well that's for you to judge anyway but I'm quite satisfied with it. 

Anyway, so here's mine

If you are curious to know how I did it or you'd like to paint this as well then you can keep reading :)

You would need

- black cardstock

- Acrylic paints (Mine are by Omni 12 shades. Got them in popular for around $10)

- A palette

- a soft sponge (I used a makeup sponge)

- a brush

One thing I always do when drawing anything that is complicated or has a lot of details, is to mentally isolate certain parts. It becomes easier when you work in parts rather than attempt to see and draw the whole thing at once because that can get very overwhelming. So as you go through my pictures, you will realize that I work in parts and I'll mention which part I'm working at for that picture and you'll realize that it's actually not that complicated after all.

I'm gonna start with the bottom lighter part of the painting first and they mainly required 3 main colours: Yellow, red and orange

Use a brush to spread the yellow paint on the sponge 

Start dabbing it on the page. If you look at the original picture, you'll see that the bottom part of the sky is shaped in this certain triangular way. So just dab it in a similar shape

Dab orange on the darker areas

Dab red on the darkest areas, which are mostly the sides

For the next step, make a pale yellow colour by mixing white with the shade "lemon yellow"

Dab that colour to the lightest areas

Use orange and yellow simultaneously until they blend well. When you use the orange, make sure you dab off the excess paint first on a rough paper or else the orange will overpower the yellow and that will make it very hard to blend.

Next, dab white to the brightest areas and blend well. I preferred using my ring finger for this part rather than the sponge. 

Next, use a purple paint. I had to mix mine

And dab it in areas where you notice purplish tones. I saw the purple mostly in the left side of the picture

Then take the darkest blue paint you have and dab it in all the areas where you notice blue shades.

Then take black and dab it in all the areas which you're sure are black. The areas that I haven't dabbed with black are where the lighter shades will be.

Excuse my foot hahaha. But yeah, mix white with ultramarine blue and dab it in all the lighter areas

Then take the darkest blue you used before to blend it with the light blue. To make the light blue not seem so strong, go over it gently with the dark blue shade and then blend it outwards.

After that, use your ring finger again to apply white paint over the really bright areas

Next, make a shade of pink by mixing white with scarlet red

Then use your ring finger again to dab it in the areas where there are pinky tones.

On the other side, I realized theres a darker shade of yellow. So I took the shade yellow ochre and applied it to the darker yellow areas. All these areas are painted using my ring finger

Then I went over some areas with orange to blend it with the yellow

Then I added some white to the other pink side as well and blended the lighter and darker part of the skies again by constantly switching from orange to red to blue to black until I was satisfied with the blending

Then I made pink again and used an old baby toothbrush to dab some on it

And I sprayed it on the left side because I realized that the pink stars are mostly concentrated this side

Here's the best part, spraying white paint for the white stars because this is what gives the sky its life. The white stars were mostly concentrated on the darker part of the sky but I sprayed some on the orange part as well.

After I was satisfied with the stars, I went ahead with the final and easiest part which is painting the mountains.

Then you just fill it in and add in the nitty gritty details if you're particular about the tiniest details like me.

And then...you're finally done!

This was quite a fun painting to do actually because really all you have to do is blend, blend and blend and anybody can do that hahaha. And it hardly required the use of paintbrush. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post :) I certainly had a lot of fun painting. I'll share again if I make more interesting stuff. 

Have a good day!

See you soon

Byeeeeeee

My real life nightmare: A levels

Hi guys,

Guess who is back after almost 3 and a half months. I almost forgot I even had a blog. I actually had doubts on whether I should continue with blogging or delete it. But then I thought, I'll just continue with it. I'm not sure how many of you actually read my blog (if you do, then thanks :) ) but blogging was more like an outlet for me. I did it for myself. It helped me to express my ideas and thoughts and creativity and if anyone of you enjoyed reading them, then I was only more than glad I could be of some use or entertainment to you :)

Well I'm back from my hiatus. I stopped blogging because of A levels. I literally had nothing to blog back then. Everything was so monotonous and dull and really, REALLY hard. It was only just a few months back and I already can't remember how I went through it all. I just remember lots of struggles and laziness and disappointments from prelim results. Everyday was just...

waking up early->going to school->panicking over undone homework->struggling to finish essays->consultations->staying back in school till 8pm->going home->dying on my bed

And the cycle would repeat.

Don't let me fool you though. I sound like I worked oh so hard for my A levels but to be dead honest...I really could have done a lot more than I did. Most of the times, I would be really tired. I would be struggling to stay awake in almost every lesson. Any little break and I would be fast asleep on the table. Yeah by the last lap, I somehow got my wake up call and tried to finish at least some of my homework and essays but my efforts were nothing compared to my classmates and schoolmates. They were like essay machines. They were prepared with every outlines and essays during tutorials. I really don't know how they did it. But I always wished I could be as motivated as them. But I wasn't. Some days, I just gave up. I didn't do anything. Yeah I consulted my teachers, but I don't know how much that helped me. I hated writing essays. A LOT. So I mostly relied on reading notes and model essays and making my own notes to learn rather than practice by writing essays, which I'm sure has cost me a lot for A levels because my time management was absolute shit.

Well...then A levels started. God, was every paper torturous to go through. 3 hours. All of them. Hundreds of hands racing against time to produce the best answers possible. My hand being one of them, shaking in fear... and because of the cold in the hall. The paper would end, everyone would stand up with this ambiguous smile on their face dying to discuss the answers. And I would just rush out of the hall, take my bag, run out of the school, catch the first 168 bus I see and come back home. Music blasting in my ears to maximum volume so I wouldn't have to listen to anyone. For 3 weeks, it went on like this. How did I do overall? I would say ok. I did screw up some papers like Lit and econs and it was expected. I hated both of those subjects and I couldn't make myself work hard for them. History paper 1 was tragic because I didn't study the topics that came out very well but History paper 2 was pretty ok. But on a bullshitting scale from 1 to 10, I'd say my bullshitting level was about a 10 for almost all my H2 papers. Lol fuck?

I honestly don't know how my results are going to be. I'm hoping to get a C at least for everything but nothing is certain. Yeah I know, you must be thinking at this point "Is this girl for real? She probably won't even make it to uni" Yeah maybe there's a chance, I won't make it to uni. But I realized, life doesn't end there. There's a lot of other options available. Well, to begin with, I can always retake my As. Hopefully I don't have to because it would SUCK to go through that torture all over again for another year but it still is one of my options I guess. Another would be to choose alternative paths that does not require academic rigour. This one is my 1st option. You maybe wondering why? Well, I realized in JC itself that I do not want to go to the usual NUS or NTU and do some boring ass degree that I have no interest in just because it sounds cool or makes me sound smart. I made up my mind that I cannot have a JC part 2 in my life again. I already regretted choosing JC because I was too much of a coward to choose something different. I went to JC, took the subjects that I absolutely hated ( I swear I did not even like ONE subject in that place) and look what that gave me eventually -> anxiety, sadness and it made me feel like I'm the stupidest person alive. Why? Just because I couldn't write as good essays as other kids could? Because I couldn't understand how the economy works, what the poems and dramas meant? Because I could not memorise the hundreds and hundreds pages worth of historical events that happened because people in the past fucked up? 
I told myself that even if (by some stroke of luck) I managed to get good enough grades to get into a uni, I wouldn't go there. Because none of the courses there appealed to me. So what alternative paths did I have in mind? I had always loved art. I remember in sec 2, I didn't take Art as my O level subject because I chose to take Pure Sciences and Additional Maths instead (Mistake number 1). After O levels, I decided to go to JC and do Humanities instead of choosing to go to poly or an Art School for diploma (Mistake number 2) and now to prevent mistake number 3, I have decided that I wanna apply to design schools now that my A levels are over. Don't get me wrong, I'm not choosing designing because I think it's the easy way out. Mind you, designing careers are one of the most competitive streams. You will come across the most talented and critical people there. And there's a lot of work involved. A lot of knowledge to be gained and applied. Yeah maybe to get in to a designing course, your academic requirement is very low but that is because you are largely judged on the portfolio you prepare. It's all based on your talent. You can't memorise your way out in this path.
But I realized this is what I'm meant to do. You know, like how some people just know they're meant to do sports, or be an engineer or be a historian? I just know I'm meant to do something where my creativity can be expressed. Paper and color pencils is my therapy. I want to see my creations come to life. I know there's no escaping from hardwork so if I have to work hard, I'd rather work hard in something I have a passion for. So I hope this answers your question as to why my aim for A levels is so low. 
I have thought of other things as well in case I don't make it for designing courses. And worst case scenario, I don't get accepted anywhere, I will retake my As and make sure I nail my exams the second time round coz I ain't gonna let that second time go to waste.

Anyway, as much as this post served as a reflection for me, if you have just ended A levels too and are worried sick for your results then first, let me wish you all the best for your results, your hardwork will not go to waste. And if you think it didn't go so well, then there are a lot of other paths you can choose. Think about what you're good at, what gives you comfort, if money was not the issue what would you choose to do, what can you do at uni that will allow you to fulfill that dream? Find ways to reach that path, start applying now, a lot of university courses consider a lot of other things other than just your A level grades. And if you wanna get into a course that requires really good grades and you didn't make it, then don't be afraid to retake your As. Would you rather 1 year go to waste or your whole life go to waste doing something you don't like. My dad always told me failures are very normal and we shouldn't be afraid of them or look down upon ourselves because of them. And after facing a failure, you'll always come back stronger.

Basically, my point is, don't think your life will end just because As went badly. It's never the end of the world. There is always a way out. Always.

If you're a junior and your A levels is next year, All the very best to you too. It is definitely not going to be easy. It will be very hard and you will definitely go through a roller coaster of emotions, but hey, we all come out alive at the end and before you know it, trust me, you'll be done with As. Just like that. I won't give you any study tips or exam tips because I am NOT the right person for that hahaha. But umm, I will say that the earlier you start the better. Sounds like an obvious thing but believe me, procrastination level will be too high next year :p So try not to give in to temptations. 

Well anyway, pretty long post here. Feels good to have gotten everything off my chest. Reminded me of why I started blogging in the first place. I'll be back with another post soon. As for now, I'm gonna go try to sleep again.

See ya
Goodnight :)

Snaps

Hi Guys,

So yesterday I went out with some of my family members to East Coast Park and tried out my hands on photography using my dad's camera. All these pictures were taken on auto mode though which I guess...some won't consider true photography? I don't know. But I've never really been into taking pictures before until recently so my dad set the camera on auto because he just wanted to see the composition of my pictures rather than the technical aspects. LUCKILY the sun was behind the camera yesterday or else none of these photos would've come out this clear. My dad was quite pleased with them so he decided to teach me the technical stuff soon so that I can adjust the camera to take pictures even when the lighting isn't in my favour and I'm quite looking forward to that. Anyway, so here are some of my clicks. I hope you like them. As I said, I'm not claiming to be an expert so if anything is wrong...don't bash me up for it. I'm still in the very beginning stages of learning.

Shoutout to the most photogenic grandfather ever 

And I took many more of my family members in their candid moments and they all came out so happy and nice. I used to wonder why I suck so much in posing and looking nice in front of the camera, maybe because I'm meant to be behind? I certainly enjoy clicking pictures of other people so much more and just anything that catches my eyes. 

Will blog more when I get to click more pictures.

See you soon 

byeeeeeee

5 tips to staying happy

 Hi guys,

I know the last time I posted was like a month ago and the time frame between my posts are just getting longer and longer.  It’s just, I’m getting really close to my As now and literally all I do majority of the times is go to school, come home, sleep and then maybe study and do my homework. I do nothing new or exciting to talk about in my blog and also most of the times, I’m just really really tired.  Can’t wait for my exams to get over and then I can become more active on my blog.

In the past one month since school has started, a lot has happened and changed…not really in a positive way. A lot of things just hit me really hard in terms of school, studies, relationship, friends, my body, ya know, the usual things that I suppose majority of the girls (or even boys) face in their JC /Poly years. And they can get really overwhelming, to the point, it becomes hard to stay optimistic anymore.

I know I’m not the only one going through this. A lot of people around my age are facing their own challenges right now and I know just like me, they probably find it a struggle to get through every single day. Some might be having things even worse and I know many even resort to some really stupid things to ease their pain.

Guys if you do go to the extent of self harm, drinking or smoking to ease your worries and “forget about your troubles”, please don’t. It’s not worth it.

Self harm will only hurt you and destroy your body- NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS

Drinking will only harm you mentally and destroy your liver – NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS

Smoking will only make you feel calm for a while until you feel the need to take another stick when the effect fades off and destroy your lungs and lower your lifespan – NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS

So what’s the common factor we see in all these “solutions”- YES they do NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS and only give you more problems to deal with because it will really negatively affect you both mentally and physically.

When you feel really down, and I mean really really really down in the dumps, just take a break, lie down on your bed, switch off your phones and shut your laptops if you have to, and just think. Think deeply about where you’re going in life, what is really going on with you, with the people around you, what are the things bothering you and most importantly, what matters to you the most at that point and will that make you happy?

I’m a deep thinker by nature. I can just drown in my own thoughts until I get disconnected with the reality around me. I guess in a way that’s a good thing because it helps me to constantly reflect about my life and actually understand what is going on. One night, I was lying down and I couldn’t sleep. And that’s when it hit me. Is there really a point in being so sad all the time? Yeah things are in a huge mess right now but is me being all upset and angry about it going to solve anything? And I realized, maybe that’s why it’s so hard for me to be happy. Because I complain more than actually doing something about my problems. I feel sad over things I don’t have rather than feel grateful for the things I do. I live in a dark tunnel without taking the effort to search for the light. Obviously things will never be right this way.

And so I came up with a few reminders to keep myself positive and happy whenever I feel down and I’d like to share them with you too.

  Learn to accept and FACE your challenges

Our biggest problem is probably being in denial or running away from our problems. I’m a culprit of this too. I tend to not accept certain things. For instance, I’m an extremely lazy person. I know there are some things I should be doing first but I keep procrastinating and telling myself that they can be done later or “Oh I don’t have to do that essay, anyway my teacher will go through it and I’ll get it. No problem”. And when people tell me I’m lazy and that’s why I don’t do well, I’d get all defensive like “OH MY GOD, HOW COULD YOU BE SO INSENSITIVE? DON’T YOU SEE ALL THE HARDWORK I PUT IN???” when in reality the hardwork = a few hours of studying with lots of breaks. This term, however, I’ve realized I cannot be like that anymore. The fact is I’m lazy and if I don’t put in any effort, if I don’t do anything about it,  reality is I’m not going to do well for my As.  So guys, don’t be in denial. It’s better to know your problems and find solutions for it than to deny it and let the problem grow and grow until it consumes you

      Learn to Let go things that are not in your control and embrace changes

Yes she/he was your bestest friend in the whole entire world but now she/he doesn’t want to talk to you anymore and has found someone else. Yeah you were in so much love with him/her and things were going great but something didn’t work out and you two had to break up and you just don’t get it how. Yeah he/she now has feelings for someone else and you find it completely inhumane how he/she can move on so fast. Yeah things used to be so much easier and happier but now life just seems to be crashing down on you and you just don’t know what to do…

You know what?

LET IT GOOOOO

Everything happens for a reason. I always believed that our life is already written by someone greater. You may not understand why all these “bad” things are happening to you right now but you will in the future. Don’t try to force things to happen that you clearly know isn’t going to be. If that friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, whatever, is really meant to be a part of your life, then no matter how much you guys fall apart, life will bring you two back together. So let it go , accept what is happening and move on. It’ll be hard but it’s the only way you can be happy. And if life is getting harder, then make yourself tougher

Every once a while, remember the things you feel fortunate for

Probably the most cliché advice, but I find it so relevant. We are living in such a fragile world, guys. Somewhere out there, hundreds of lives are being lost everyday, families are getting torn apart, and people see blood more than water. Somewhere in the world, poverty is so intense that they don’t even have the money to eat everyday, let alone have a decent house to live in or even get a proper, basic education. And here we are in a comfortable house, our families safe and sound, you have food to eat everyday and most importantly, AT LEAST you have the opportunity to study no matter how “stressful” you find the education here to be. You will feel better when you count your blessings because it will make you realize all the things you already have that you can be happy about rather than little things that you’re constantly feeling sad over,

 Go out, spend time alone, make yourself have some fun

I think one of the reasons why we become so sad is because we don't prioritize our happiness. We never give ourselves the time to sit back and enjoy life because we are always doing things either to please others or for the future. Sometimes, it is important to just stop, forget about the world or the things you have to complete and do something that will make YOU happy. I usually do this by going window shopping alone after school or going to macs alone and treating myself to some good ol junk food without worrying about the fats I'm consuming, I treat myself double scoop of my favourite Swensens sticky chewy ice cream, I take pictures of random things that I find pretty or cute, I sit and listen to all my favourite songs and watch bollywood movies even though I may have a test tomorrow to study for. Sometimes, it is important to sacrifice seemingly important things if that is what will make you happy. My sister told me once "you can die anytime, do you really wanna regret at that last moment that you never gave yourself the time to do things that you love or sacrificed more important aspects of your life because of stressing about the future? "

Find joy in the little things

This one's probably the hardest? When things go really bad, it's hard to find things that can make you happy when you feel the whole world is against you. But trust me, even on the worst days, some thing or the other will happen that will have the power to make you smile. Most of the times we can be really ignorent to it. For instance, look at the sky deeply and see how pretty it is, look at how that father is patiently answering his 5 year old son while sitting on the bus as his little son asks the most stupidest questions, look how that person is smiling while looking at their phone, look how you got a seat in the train/bus at the peak hour, you know, little things like that. Just look around more and be more attuned to the things happening around you. It's quite fascinating. On my worst days, I always do that because I can't be bothered to think about my own life anymore. And it always makes me smile when I see happy people or pretty things.  Life isn't always such a ruthless place. 

Well anyway, these are some of my ways to make me happy and I hope you find it useful too. I know many of my friends, if they do read my blog, will find it such an irony to see me telling people how to be happy when I'm like the most whiniest little thing on earth. But well...I'm trying to change. Because I'm kind of done being sulky and sad and whiny and angry most of the times. It really brings no good to me. I just get more distant from people. I want to be happy even on the worst and most stressful days and I'm the only one who can make me happy. You're the only one who can make yourself happy too. Don't depend on others for your happiness

Anyway that's pretty much all I wanted to say for today. Thanks for reading this post if you made it all the way till here haha. I know it's pretty long. 

And wishing an early Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends :) 

Have a good day yo

See ya :)

DIY Eyebrow Maintenance - Be in charge of your own brows

Helloooo guys,

Today's post is dedicated to a make or break feature of the face- THE EYEBROWS!

Let me tell you, being Indian is not an easy maintenance. As glad as I am to inherit a thick, dark hair on my head, God decided to be extra generous and give me even more thick and dark hair everywhere -_- 

My eyebrows as a kid was pretty light and sparse, but as I grew into my teens, they became much thicker, darker, noticeable and BUSHIER. They had absolutely no shape at all. It was just a line of thick hair above my eyes. Not to mention my very attractive unibrow.

When I turned 14, my mom finally allowed me to get my eyebrows threaded. I was warned that it will be extremely painful (and no kidding, threading is the most painful thing ever, even after 4 years of doing it, it still hurts really badly), but the end result was AMAZEBALLSSS!! My eyebrows were not just thick anymore but so perfectly shaped and arched and it looked so neat AND NO UNIBROW. I finally looked like a girl. And my eyebrows were always complimented by my friends.

But the thing is my eyebrows grow back pretty fast. The parlour lady told me that once a month is enough to get my eyebrows threaded but the wild hair around my neatly shaped brows grew back within 1 and a half to 2 weeks. I read up that this has got something to do with hormones (not exactly sure what), and that is why every girl has different rate of hair growth. So for some it can take a lot of time to grow back, like about a month, and for some it can grow back as fast as in a week or two. 

If you live in Singapore, there are many indian parlours where you can get your eyebrows threaded for 5-8 dollars. If you go to more professional ones, it can be more expensive. So of course, my mom didn't allow me to get my eyebrows threaded often even if it grew back. Firstly, coz it wasn't reasonable to keep spending 8 dollars every week to get them shaped and secondly, doing your brows that often, will eventually make it really thin, which is what happened to me because me being me, did not listen to my mom and used my own allowance to get my eyebrows threaded often secretly.

So last year I decided to stop threading for a while and kind of take situation in to my own hands. I decided that instead of getting them threaded, I should just get a tweezer and pluck the extra hairs out myself and that way my eyebrows will look clean and I can allow it to grow back thick again. 

However I purchased an awful pair of tweezers. I only got them because they were cheap and I hadn't really researched on the kind of tweezers to get, so I got the flat tip one just randomly, which was by the way, a very bad idea. It looked something like this:

(Don't mind the rustiness, it has been stored in a corner for a very long time since I never used it. DO NOT USE A RUSTED TWEEZER) These tweezers weren't the ones that I used but it was similar, especially the flat tip part. And it was just such a horrible experience whenever I tweezed my eyebrows because I could never get good grasp of all the hair, the tweezer would constantly slip and end up pinching my skin and causing small cuts, slight swelling, redness and even after all that pain, the little wild hair would still be there.

I somehow managed to survive with those tweezers for 2 months only for the sake of having my eyebrows grow back. Once they did, I just threw them aside and went back to threading again. Although, this time I was careful of not getting them threaded very often, so I always had this period where my eyebrows just looked really unkempt. And also, I realized recently that because of threading, my eyebrows has become even more thin than before and it really made me feel sad because I wanted my thick eyebrows back again :(

So recently, I decided to go back to my threading hiatus again and switch to tweezing once more. Hence, my brows had become quite bushy and messy since the past two weeks because of that. So yesterday I went to Watsons to purchase a GOOD pair of tweezers and this time, I had also done my research. I learnt that slant tips are the best for tweezing, so I decided to buy this pair:

This pair is by QVS and it was almost 7 dollars and I was in two minds about spending that much for a pair of tweezers. But after the bad experience I had with my last pair of cheap 2 dollars tweezers, I decided to get this one. Also, there was another pair of slant tip tweezer whose tip was much thinner than this one and I was in a bit of confusion as to which to get then. But I decided to get this one as I felt that since the tip was slightly thick, it wouldn't pinch my skin or poke me if my hands were to accidentally slip while tweezing and also, I felt the thicker tip would grab on to the hairs a lot better. 

Anyway, so I decided to give this a try a yesterday since my brows were in some serious need for cleaning up and oh my god...THIS TWEEZER IS SO GOOD!!!

One of my main problems with tweezing used to be that it took so long to pluck all individual hair, but with this tweezer, it was so much easier to grab on to many hairs at once and just pull them out. Also, just like I thought, the thicker tip helped to grab on to even little, finer hairs without poking my eyes to give me a much cleaner finish and I've gotten a result that is almost very close to how my brows look when they are threaded. And it's really simple as well. So let me share with you how I did it.

I know you can't see really well but this was the clearest I could take with my phone camera. As you can see, my eyebrow has a shape but there is A LOT of wild hair around it and that is pretty much what you want to get rid off. To make it easier for me, I actually already filled my eyebrows so I know how I want my end "product" to look like and what I need to get rid off. Also, filling it first gives you an outline of the brow and you know where you need to pluck. 

LOOK AT THAT DIFFERENCE. The tweezer made it so much easier for me to pluck and give me such a clean result. 

Then I just did the same for my other brow. Just pluck the excess hair around the brow and try to pluck all the hair that falls outside the line because they are usually the wilder hairs and make your brows look really messy.

Every now and then, keep using the brush or your hands to remove all the plucked hair from your eyes and face.

My brow hairs can also get very long which also adds on to the wild look. So to make it neater and straighter, I used my eyebrow brush and brushed my eyebrow hair in the opposite direction from where it grows and you will see some hair that will stand out of your eyebrow outline. So just use your SMALL scissors (these scissors are especially meant for your brows) and gently snip them off. It's easy to go overboard while cutting so just cut a little by little and keep brushing them back to its original place to see how it looks like and whether the hair falls neatly back into your outline or not. If it doesn't, just snip more. 

After doing all those steps, you will have near perfect shaped and clean eyebrows

That is it, all you have to do is these three

1) outline

2) pluck

3) cut

Mannn I'm so happy with how it eventually looked like. It's the best results I've ever gotten with a pair of tweezers and it took me so much less time as well. 

As you can see, even after removing the eyebrow pencil colour from my brows, they still look pretty neat. That is why I prefer to fill them in first.

ps: excuse my oily face, the humidity here and my face don't quite get along

Anyway girls (or guys too if you are interested), so these were my little tips on doing your own eyebrows. Remember, the kind of tweezer you use DOES MATTER. Slanted and thicker tips, to me, are the best. And also, make sure you keep at least an hour minimum to yourself, if you plan to do them. Do not rush them or think you can do them just 5 mins before leaving your house. You will end up hurting yourself and not getting a good result. Personal experience.

However do note about this. If you are reading this and you have never gotten your eyebrows done before, then I HIGHLY SUGGEST you get them done by a professional first. They are the best people to give you a nice shape to your virgin eyebrows that will suit your face. After that, you can do this when the hair grows back because then you will know how to outline and where to pluck :)

There are many perks of being able to do your own brows. You don't have to be dependent on anyone else. When there is an important event you have to attend last minute and your brows are in a mess, you can do it within half hour in the comfort of your own home. You also get to be in charge of how you want your eyebrows to be, i.e, decide its thickness, length, which part you want to pluck which part want you want to leave it out and let it grow etc. And the biggest advantage, NOT HAVING TO SPEND ANY MONEY!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'll be back soon again. Gotta go and get back to my dreaded revision. 

See you soon and take care :)